Inside The Wheelhouse: Brett Favre should have stayed retired

On March 4th, 2008 Brett Favre retired from the NFL as a Green Bay Packer…or so we thought. Months later Brett Favre unannounced his retirement and wanted to come back to play the game of Football. He wanted to be the starting quarterback again for the Green Bay Packers but the Packers did not want their former legend back as they had moved on with a quarterback by the name of Aaron Rodgers.

The Brett Favre train had left Green Bay and the Packers organization had no choice but to trade away their franchise icon to another team. Favre made it clear to Packers GM Ted Thompson that he wanted to be traded to the Minnesota Vikings, a team that made it clear as well that they would pursue Brett Favre to be their starter. Green Bay would not trade Favre to a Divisional rival and therefore traded Favre to the New York Jets of the AFC East.

There was a stipulation in the deal that should the Jets turn over and trade Favre to the Vikings, the team he wanted to play for, then the Jets would end up sending a 1st round draft pick to the Green Bay Packers. A hefty stipulation in the deal that would keep Favre in “gang green” for the entire season and not to the rival Minnesota Vikings where he would continue the next step in his career. Favre would play well in New York but injuries Favre would suffer throughout the season kept them from cashing in on a playoff spot.

Come the 2009 offseason, Favre told the Jets that he planned on retiring and for the team to “move on” to look for another quarterback. New York would release Favre and draft Mark Sanchez out of the University of Southern California in the 2009 NFL Draft. The New York Jets similar to the Green Bay Packers indeed moved on from Brett Favre.

Then Brett Favre’s ego and legendary status was put into question for the first time when he ended up joining Green Bay rival’s the Minnesota Vikings just before the 2009 NFL season would kickoff. This is indeed what Favre wanted the entire time, a chance to play for a team in the same division as the team that once glorified him as the next coming of god and to stick it to the Green Bay Packers organization. The move also not only stuck it to Ted Thompson (Packers GM) and Mike McCarthy (Green Bay’s head coach) but stuck it to the fanbase that preached the gospel of Favre for 16 NFL seasons.

Favre would stick it Green Bay, beating them in both regular season games in the 2009 season and taking the Minnesota Vikings all the way to the NFC Championship Game. Brett Favre proved that he “still had it” and that he could perform at the NFL standard as a 40 year old. But at what costs did he do it to prove that point?

For many off-season’s Green Bay Packers fans had to deal with whether or not Brett Favre was retiring or not. The constant heart string struggle that Favre would put on the Green Bay faithful every offseason never got old and would put the Packers fans in prayer hoping #4 would return to the Green Bay sidelines next season. When Favre finally retired it was closure to an amazing career that led many analysts into arguments about whether or not he was the greatest quarterback of all-time.

But it was shortly there after where Favre reached for the Packer fans heart strings by wanting to return to the NFL four months after he said his tearful goodbye. It put the Green Bay fans in the middle of their glorified quarterback that they love and the organization that they worship. The ego of Brett Favre was getting the best of him again and was potentially showing the entire NFL fanbase that this one time loveable figure was possibly in it for just Brett Favre.

Favre broke the hearts of Green Bay fans in 2008 by returning but to a different team, the New York Jets but giving Wisconsin a new New York Jets fanbase. The slap in the face came when Favre joined the rival Minnesota Vikings and the fanbase became split with their love of Favre. This once “John Wayne of Football” was not the “prima donna of the north” needed the attention of the Football world on him. Favre got that egotistical attention brought to him most recently in one of the most negative of lights.

Through all the egotistical Brett Favre “will he stay or will he go” battles and the slaps in the face he gave an entire fanbase that worshipped him, no one really bashed Brett Favre to hard. Favre was this loveable guy who could sweet talk the media and the fans before or after a game to make him still a likeable character despite all his attention seeking stories he needs every season. Brett Favre still was liked by millions through it all.

Then the tides of change happened when most recently a story was published in August 2010 on Deadspin.com alleging that Brett Favre left inappropriate voicemail messages & sent inappropriate cell phone pictures to former Jets stadium host Jenn Sterger. The story was out there but never really went anywhere as many of the national media outlets kind of pushed the article aside cause their was no real incriminating evidence.

In the age of the internet where TMZ.com and Radaronline.com bashing celebrities left and right, alleging of certain things celebrities do etc. it was easy to kind of brush this story aside since there was really nothing out there. It was as if a story was published saying that Mel Gibson would leave nasty voicemails/phone calls to the mother of his children and there was no audio recordings of the phone calls. Once those phone calls surface then the story is believable and that is exactly what happened to Favre.

Fast forward two months later, the week leading to the Minnesota Vikings to play the New York Jets, Favre’s former team as he returns to New York for the first time as Jet. The game is on primetime Monday Night, one of the biggest stages for any weekly NFL game. The stage is set, the spotlight is on the game and then the alleged Favre voicemails/pictures surface.

Strategic planning by Deadspin.com? Absolutely it is as the story became front page news items with every national sports media outlet. From ESPN to your national nightly news to the back page of your newspaper, the story had factual evidence (allegedly) that incriminated Favre for these wrong doings.

Leading up to the Week 5 matchup with the Vikings/Jets it became clearer that the NFL had seen the evidence and was planning on investigating the matter. The NFL had plans of speaking with Jenn Sterger and Brett Favre regarding the inappropriate voicemails/pictures sent from Favre to Sterger. If incriminated a hefty fine or even a suspension would be placed on Favre. The legacy of Favre was in question as he was now under the magnifying glass of the public eye.

Brett Favre is a married man with children. He is even a grandfather now. The alleged voicemails/pictures that Favre sent to Jenn Sterger came at a time when his wife (Deanna Favre) was battling Breast cancer. A horrible disease that thankfully Deanna Favre has beat and did not lose her life over. What man would do such a horrible thing while his wife is battling a form of cancer?

I tell you who would, a man who needs the spotlight of attention always shining on him so the entire sports world can follow his every move. A man who would turn his back on entire fanbase that glorified him every game he took the field in Packers green. A man that would convince a organization to release him so he could go to the team he wanted to play for the whole time with the soul purpose of sticking it to the team he played 16 glorified season with.

This man is Brett Favre, a man that at one time I took bowed to the ground he walked on and looked up to as role model. I’m a Green Bay Packers fan and Brett Favre was my hero. Ever since 2008 my love for Favre has diminished and the hero status has lost its true meaning. With the last straw to break the camel’s back Brett Favre has become nothing more then the anti-role model, a man with no dignity or purpose, someone who is filled with ego and someone who is nothing more then a fake.

Brett Favre should have stayed retired when he left the Green Bay Packers organization in 2008. Had he stayed retired he may have been looked at as the greatest Quarterback of all-time, he would have at least still be considered quite possibly the greatest Green Bay Packers of all-time, an amazing accomplishment in itself for one of the NFL’s longest reigning franchises. He would be in fact, a living legend.

Now he is looked at as half man he used to be, nothing more then a media joke with a swelled head filled with ego. A man that allegedly sent awful things to another woman that is not his wife, a man that has tore down the legacy he helped build for 16 years in 2 years. He is no longer the same man that put on a New York Jets jersey in 2008 or a Minnesota Vikings jersey in 2009.

We all make decisions in life that we sometimes don’t want to come to grips with but no it’s the right thing to do in the end. Brett Favre made that decision on March 4th, 2008 when he decided it was time to retire from the NFL and to do it as a Packer. While he couldn’t come to grips with not playing anymore in the NFL, he had made the right decision.

When Brett Favre looks back at his life and his NFL career it’s safe to say he will ask himself “what would have happened if I stayed retired in 2008?” He would have been put on a higher pedestal amongst legends and now he may never reach that pedestal in his career. Brett Favre has made his bed and now he must sleep in it.

Eric is the owner and editor-in-chief of the Camel Clutch Blog. Eric has worked in the pro wrestling industry since 1995 as a ring announcer in ECW and a commentator/host on television, PPV, and home video. Eric also hosted Pro Wrestling Radio on terrestrial radio from 1998-2009. Check out some of Eric's work on his IMDB bio and Wikipedia. Eric has an MBA from Temple University's Fox School of Business.

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